Becoming Crunchy

Archive for June, 2012

We all talk about how we want to bring more connectedness into our lives. We may want to connect with spirit, our bodies, acceptance, forgiveness or simply to find peace. Whether you already have a practice that centers you or you want to have a practice, but haven’t yet begun, here is a chance to write about what keeps you going or keeps you from starting and read what others are experiencing on their own journeys.

Kelly from Becoming Crunchy and Zoie from TouchstoneZ are pleased to announce the Fifth Mindful Mama Carnival.

Topic: Mindfulness and Nature

For this month’s carnival, we invite you to explore how the natural world affects you. Getting outside can be a boon to a weary mind. Just being in nature can spark creativity, renew energy or create greater connection to self.

You don’t have to have regular access to a nature area to write about this. Some people find houseplants or simply being somewhere that foliage can be seen is enough to produce a more mindful state of being. This carnival gives you a chance to think creatively about what nature and mindfulness mean to you and your family.

Some suggestions:

• Try a walking meditation or simply walk in a natural setting, noticing and breathing.
• Garden, inside or out, taking note of your feelings and thoughts.
• Do any activity you enjoy inside, outside.
• Sit and gaze at plants or try a meditation while passively looking.
• Find some sunshine and some green leaves and feel the effects they have on you.

Whatever experience you choose to explore, we hope you will join us by writing about mindfulness and nature. Your post can be of a personal nature or a researched piece, with full citations.

Remember, these are just suggestions to get your creative juices flowing. You don’t have to have a goal and you don’t have to succeed in your mindfulness practice in order to participate. It is the experience from your unique perspective that we are looking for.

Submissions Deadline: Friday, June 29, 2012. Fill out the webform (at the link or at the bottom) and email your submission to mindfulmamacarnival{at}gmail{dot}com by 11:59 p.m. Pacific time (please note the new email address).

Carnival date: Thursday, July 5, 2012. Before you post, we will send you an email with a little blurb in html to paste into your submission that will introduce the carnival. You will publish your post on July 5 before 9am PST and email us the link if you haven’t done so already. Once everyone’s posts are published on July 5 by 9am PST, we will send out a finalized list of all the participants’ links to generate lots of link love for your site. We’ll include full instructions in the email we send before the posting date.

If you have any questions, you are welcome to contact us: mindfulmamacarnival{at}gmail{dot}com

We hope you’ll join us in this challenge to create more mindfulness in your life. Please submit your post on the form below by Friday, June 29th, 11:59pm PST and have your post up on Thursday, June 5th by 9am PST. We will send you code for the top and bottom of your post that will link to any other participants in the carnival by Wednesday, July 4th, with final update on July 5th.

If you have any questions, please feel free to comment below or email mindfulmamacarnival{at}gmail{dot}com.

Copy this Updated badge code and add it to your blog sidebar:

To stay connected:

• Please visit the Mindful Mama Carnival Homepage for more badges and most recent information.
• Follow Kelly and Zoie on Twitter
• Like Kelly and Zoie on Facebook
• Follow Kelly and Zoie on Pinterest
• Follow the #MindMaCar hashtag on Twitter
• Follow the MindfulMamaCarnival Twitter List
• Subscribe to the Mindful Mama Reader Feed

We are so looking forward to reading all the contributions for the July Carnival!

Zoie & Kelly

www.Touchstonez.com & www.BecomingCrunchy.com

Bean w/Daddy & Grandpa

Today is Father’s Day, a day when we honour the men who raised us.  From my perspective as a son, I can fully understand this.

My father worked 16 hours a day for 25 years, only taking a handful of days off (he even worked a half day on Christmas every year).

It was through his sacrifices that I was able to go to college. He provided for our family and taught me what a real work ethic was.

To this day, he still tries to make sacrifices by telling me I shouldn’t have bought him anything for Father’s Day, and that I should have saved the money.

As a son, this Father’s Day thing makes perfect sense. It’s the official day to recognize and give back to our dads for the countless things they do for us.

As a father myself, and looking at it from a father’s perspective, this day makes absolutely no sense to me at all.

Let me start from the beginning. Read the rest of this entry »